History
Founded in 1992 by the late music director and conductor, Bob Lappin, The Palm Beach Pops quickly distinguished itself as a world-class pops orchestra. The Pops’ debut that same year at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach launched what has become one of the finest orchestras in the country.
That first concert, a benefit for Palm Beach County’s YWCA Harmony House, was followed by three commercial performances that drew a collective audience of 6,000. The tremendous response to these performances created demand for a season subscription series, which began in 1993. The following year, The Palm Beach Pops received National recognition when the orchestra was invited to perform at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City — a first among Florida’s orchestras. During that week, the Pops also performed a benefit concert for the North Shore University Hospital on Long Island.
The Palm Beach Pops has been presented at venues across the country including the prestigious Ocean Reef Cultural Center and at special functions such as Palm Beach Island’s St. Edward’s Catholic Church 75th Anniversary Celebration, the Jewish Federation’s Major Gifts Gala at Mar-A-Lago and the Mizner Park Amphitheatre’s Holiday Spectacular.
The nationally and internationally known Palm Beach Pops CD, Yours Is My Heart Alone, was recorded and released in 2006 and is featured on syndicated radio stations across the country including Sirius XM Radio’s Standards Station (73).